The study, led by Ralph De Fronzo, M.D., of UT Medicine San Antonio, showed that the combination of three drugs given when a patient is first diagnosed with type 2 Diabetes is not a cure, “but patients are basically normal while taking them.” Click on image to make it bigger

SAN ANTONIO (June 22, 2013) — Patients with type 2 diabetes fare significantly better if they are started on three medications at the time of diagnosis than if they are prescribed a single drug and have other therapies added later.

Those are the findings of a study presented June 22 by Ralph De Fronzo, M.D., of UT Medicine San Antonio, at the 73rd Scientific Sessions of the American Diabetes Association (ADA) in Chicago. Dr. DeFronzo also is chief of the Division of Diabetes in the School of Medicine at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.

The findings, from a study funded by the association, could revise the way physicians manage the endocrine disease.

He presented two-year results from 134 participants studied at University Health System’s Texas Diabetes Institute, a partnership with the UT Health Science Center San Antonio.

In the study, half of the subjects received the triple-therapy regimen while the other half received the conventional regimen recommended by the ADA.

Current standard of careThe standard regimen begins with a single agent (metformin), adds another (sulfonylurea) when the first agent fails, and then adds insulin injections as needed to control blood glucose after the second agent fails.

Study resultsDr. DeFronzo reported that:

Mean hemoglobin A1c, a test that strongly predicts the risk of diabetic blood vessel complications such as blindness, kidney failure, heart attacks, stroke and neuropathy, was 6.0 percent after 24 months in the triple-therapy group, compared to 6.6 percent in the conventional therapy group. (The ADA and the European Association for Study of Diabetes recommend a maximum hemoglobin A1c level of 6.5 percent.)

While 42 percent of conventional-therapy participants failed to reach the 6.5 percent goal, only 17 percent of the triple-therapy recipients failed to reach it.

In home blood glucose monitoring, triple-therapy patients showed consistent results within the normal range, whereas patients on conventional therapy registered up-and-down spikes, many of which were out of the normal range.

Patients on triple therapy lost 2 to 3 pounds on average after two years while patients on conventional therapy gained 9 to 10 pounds.

Fifteen percent of patients on triple therapy experienced one episode of hypoglycemia (low blood glucose), while 46 percent of those on conventional therapy had at least one hypoglycemic event.

Before the study, Dr. DeFronzo and his colleagues, including co-investigator, Muhammad Abdul-Ghani, M.D., Ph.D., of UT Medicine, hypothesized that the triple therapy would produce a greater, more durable reduction in hemoglobin A1c, reduce the fluctuation in plasma glucose by decreasing both fasting and between-meal glucose levels, and prevent weight gain, which is a side effect of traditional therapy.

Results are clear: patients are ‘normal’ while on triple therapyTwo years into the three-year study, it is clear that the triple therapy is accomplishing these therapeutic goals, and that beta cells are being preserved and the body is being sensitized to insulin. “These drugs are not cures, but patients are basically normal while taking them,” Dr. DeFronzo said. “They are not going to develop the microvascular (blood vessel) complications as long as their blood glucose level remains within the normal range.”

The triple therapy consists of metformin, a drug that Dr. DeFronzo helped develop in the 1990s; pioglitazone, a newer class of medication for type 2 diabetes; and exenatide, another newer class of drug. Each drug works by a different mechanism, Dr. DeFronzo said. Conventional therapy is to start the patient on metformin and when the response stops, add a class of medication called a sulfonylurea. When those no longer work, the patient is placed on insulin.

New approach is more expensiveProblems with the conventional approach include weight gain, episodes of hypoglycemia and failure to prevent beta cell failure. The conventional approach is less expensive, however.

“We should tell people which drugs work better,” Dr. DeFronzo said. “The individuals and doctors need to decide whether they can afford the treatment.”

U.K. study resultsAccording to the United Kingdom Prospective Diabetes Study, patients on conventional therapy had an average hemoglobin A1c level of 8.6 percent after a mean of 10 years of follow-up, and nearly two-thirds (65 percent) were on insulin for glucose control.

The Texas Diabetes Institute, a program of University Health System, is the nation’s largest and most comprehensive center entirely devoted to diabetes prevention, treatment, education, professional training and the relentless search for a cure. Texas Diabetes Institute is located where it is most needed, on San Antonio’s West Side, where the incidence of diabetes is the highest in the nation.

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UT Medicine San Antonio is the clinical practice of the School of Medicine at the UT Health Science Center San Antonio. With more than 700 doctors — all School of Medicine faculty members — UT Medicine is the largest medical practice in Central and South Texas. Expertise is in more than 100 medical specialties and subspecialties. Primary care doctors and specialists see patients in private practice at UT Medicine’s flagship clinical home, the Medical Arts & Research Center (MARC), located at 8300 Floyd Curl Drive, San Antonio 78229. Most major health plans are accepted, and UT Medicine physicians also practice at several local and regional hospitals. Call 210-450-9000 to schedule an appointment, or visit http://www.utmedicine.org for a list of clinics and phone numbers.